Let's Talk Video Games

Whoa! I can't believe how expensive these things are when you buy them new! My sister bought my son a $50 video game and within a week it was toast. My daughter, two at the time, thought it looked pretty tasty and tested her new chompers out on it. My son was devastated and I vowed I would tell everyone to only get used games from then on out (we were already doing this ourselves).

The cool thing about the used video game market is that most of the video game stores will give you cash or credit for the old games you're tired of playing. They also offer membership cards which will give you more credit on each item traded in, and also gives you a lower price on the used gaming products you buy in their stores. We've taken full advantage of this and saved mega bucks. Our kids don't care if the games they're getting once belonged to someone else, so long as they're getting one and it works--and all games are guaranteed by the stores.

Our favorite places to go when we have a little cash to burn, or if we want to unload our old games, are Game Crazy and Game Stop. They each offer a one year subscription (with membership) to a gaming magazine (different ones), so your kids--or even you--can see what's new and sometimes even get coupon offers inside them.

One nice thing that Game Crazy does is fix your scratched video games. If the scratches don't go too deep, they have a pretty good success rate. We've saved many a game this way, and we got it done for free with the membership. If you don't have a membership, last I checked it was only a dollar for them to fix each disc for you. They also will do CDs and DVDs, so that's pretty cool.

If you're not into trading for games, or you don't care about memberships, you can also find games for good prices on Video Gamesby clicking that link for Amazon. Ebay is also a great place to either sell your old games or buy some new-to-you games.

Don't forget that you can also save or make money on your video games or equipment by going to the pawn shop, too. If you go this route, don't necessarily take the first offer they give you. It doesn't hurt to ask for a better deal. What's the worst they can tell you? "No"?

Anyway, these are my tips on cheap video game entertainment. Make a buck or save a buck. Do with them what you will.